Container assembly with individually priceable carded packages therein

ABSTRACT

A package for displaying the price of carded merchandise includes a container with parallel sidewalls having elongated apertures and a multiplicity of merchandise cards stacked in the container. The substrates of the cards have the articles mounted on their body portions and folded portions which extend substantially parallel to the sidewalls having the apertures therein. Some of the carded merchandise has its folded portions visible through one of the apertures and other carded merchandise has its folded portions visible through the other of the apertures. Indicia of price of other suitable information can be affixed to the carded merchandise in the container through the apertures, and the indicia so applied are visible through such apertures. In the method of pricing or applying other indicia, the cards are folded and inserted into the container and thereafter the indicia applied through the apertures to the folded portions are exposed therethrough for viewing. The apertures may be provided by tear strips formed in the walls of the container which may also be retained thereon to close the apertures after pricing indicia have been applied.

Dnit Sates Patent 1 91 Gordon et a1.

[ Mar. 25, 1975 1 1 CONTAINER ASSEMBLY WITH INDIVIDUALLY PRICEABLE CARDED PACKAGES THEREIN [75] Inventors: Yale J. Gordon, Killingworth; John V. Koley, Canton, both of Conn.

[73] Assignee: The Stanley Works, New Britain,

Conn.

[22] Filed: Sept. 9, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 504,103

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 436,686,,1an. 25,

1974, abandoned,

3,392,501 7/1968 Gilchrist Jrv 206/4531 X Primary E.raminer-Leonard Summer [57] ABSTRACT A package for displaying the price of carded merchandise includes a container with parallel sidewalls having elongated apertures and a multiplicity, of merchandise cards stacked in the container. The substrates of the cards have the articles mounted on their body portions and folded portions which extend substantially parallel to the sidewalls having the apertures therein. Some of the carded merchandise has its folded portions visible through one of the apertures and other carded merchandise has its folded portions visible through the other of the apertures. lndicia of price of other suitable information can be affixed to the carded merchandise in the container through the apertures, and the indicia so applied are visible through such apertures. In the method of pricing or applying other indicia, the cards are folded and inserted into the container and thereafter the indicia applied through the apertures to the folded portions are exposed therethrough for viewing. The apertures may be provided by tear strips formed in the wallsof the container which may also be retained thereon to close the apertures after pricing indicia have been applied.

15 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures CONTAINER ASSEMBLY WITH INDIVIDUALLY PRICEABLE CARDED PACKAGES THEREIN A RELATED APPLICATION This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 436,686 filed Jan. 25, 1974, now abandoned.

Frequently merchandise is shipped in containers in- Heretofore, it has been suggested to provide cartons which might provide apertures for pricing of the contents, as for example in Schroder U.S. Pat. No. 3,191,769. It has also been suggested to provide cartons with apertures to permit affixation of tax stamps to the ends of cigarette packages, as for example in Malocsay U.S. Pat. No. 2,129,701; Krukonis U.S. Pat. No. 2,895,601; Nicholson U.S. Pat. No. 3,063,533; Doran U.S. Pat. No. 3,071,244; and Gilchrist U.S. Pat. No. 3,392,501. Some Containers have been designed to permit viewing of identification marks on units of merchandise stored therein, as for example Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 212,970, and Beesley et a1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,353,659.

However, there has been a growing utilization .of carded merchandise as a means of effecting point of purchase display. In such carded merchandise, the article of merchandise is mounted upon a substrate which is imprinted with information concerning the article, and the entire card may be suspended or mounted on racks or the like. The use of such carded merchandise techniques has introduced significant problems from the standpoint of pricing ofthe individual units because of the necessity for handling each unit and possibly rehandling each unit if it is desired to replace each unit in the original storage container. Generally the pricing information or suitable indicia for inventory purposes are disposed upon the header portion of the merchandise card. The techniques described in the aforementioned United States patents have not'been suitable for purposes of marking or viewing the header portions of the display cards, since the display cards are normally oriented in stacked relationship and with principal plane thereof parallel to the endwalls of the container.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel package fordisplaying the price or other indicia of carded merchandise stored therein wherein the individual items of carded merchandise may be observed without disassembly of the package.

It is also an object to provide such a package wherein pricing or other indicia may be applied through viewing apertures directly to the header portions of the carded merchandise.

Another object is to provide a method for making such packages wherein pricing and other indicia may be applied readily to the assembled goods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It has now been found that the foregoing and related objects can be readily attained in a package for displaying the price or other indicia of carded merchandise therein and utilizing a container having a pair ofspaced parallel sidewalls each with an elongated aperture therein. A multiplicity of merchandise cards are disposed in the container in stacked relationship between the pair of spaced sidewalls, and each of the mercham dise cards includes a substrate having a body portion extending in spaced relationship to the pair of sidewalls and a folded portion extending parallel to the sidewalls. an article of merchandise is mounted on the body portion of the substrate and there is provided means mounting the article on the substrate. Folded portions of the substrates of some of the cards extend adjacent and are exposed through the aperture ofone of the pair of sidewalls, and the folded portions of the substrates of other cards extend adjacent and are exposed through the aperture of the other sidewall. In this manner, the folded portions of the substrates of the multiplicity of cards disposed in the container are exposed through the apertures of affixation thereto of indicia, of price, or the like.

In one embodiment, the elongated aperture of one of the sidewalls is offset to one side of the length of the container and the elongated aperture in the other sidewall is offset to the other side of the length of the container so that the apertures cooperatively traverse substantially the entire length of the container. In the most desirable form of this embodiment, the apertures each overlie the center portion of the length of the container and are disposed adjacent one longitudinal margin of the sidewall. In this embodiment, the end portions of the substrates of the cards are folded and extend in a direction away from the article supported on the body thereof and are desirably of greater width than the total thickness of the article and of the body portion of the substrate so that they overlap adjacent cards. Some of the merchandise cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing one endwall of the container and other cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing the other endwall.

In another embodiment, the apertures extend transversely of parallel sidewalls adjacent end walls of the container and the folded portions of the substrates are portions extending longitudinally of the card, i.e., side portions. In this embodiment the folded side portions are thus exposed through the apertures for viewing or pricing. Both apertures may be disposed adjacent one end and the carded merchandise arranged back-toback and turned end-for-end.

In a desirable embodiment of the container, the apertures in the sidewalls are defined by the margins of tear strips or perforated portions which may be removed to provide the apertures. If so desired, the tear strips may be incompletely removed and defined by undulating lines of weakness which will enable the pressing of the strips back into a functionally closed position.

In the method of applying indicia to merchandise cards, a container is provided having a pair of spaced parallel sidewalls each with an elongated aperture therein. A multiplicity of merchandise cards are formed and each includes a substrate having a body portion foldable with respect thereto; an article of merchandise on the body portion; and-means mounting the article on the body portion. Each of the merchandise cards is folded so that the folded portion thereof extends in spaced relationship to the aricle supported thereon. The folded cards are inserted into the container to as to expose the folded portions of some cards through one of the apertures and the folded portions of the other cards through the outer aperture. With the folded cards so disposed within the container, indicia may then be applied through the apertures in the container to the folded portions of the cards which are thus exposed therethrough.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a package embodying the present invention with price indicia exposed through the aperture in one sidewall of the container;

FIG. 2 is a partially exploded view of the package of FIG. 1 to a greatly enlarged scale.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another embodiment of package with flap partially broken away and with the folded tear strip partially opened to reveal internal construction;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view thereof with the tear strips and sidewall removed to reveal internal-construction;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a merchandise card within the package of this embodiment; and

FIG. 6 is a partially exploded view of the package of FIG. 3 to a reduced scale, with the tear strips removed and with the pricing labels exploded.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT Turning now to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 of the attached drawing in detail, a package embodying the present invention is illustrated therein and is comprised of the container generally designated by the numeral l0 and a multiplicity of merchandise cards dis posed therein and generally designated by the numeral 12. The container 10 is a conventional six-sided container of paperboard or the like and has two parallel sidewalls 14, 16 of generally elongated dimension extending between the endwalls 18, 20. Each of the parallel sidewalls 14, 16 has an elongated aperture 22, 24 adjacent the lower longitudinal margin thereof,.and the aperture 22 is offset to one side of the centerline of its sidewall 14 and extends closely adjacent the endwall 18. The aperture 24 is offset to the opposite side of the centerline of its sidewall 16 and extends closely adjacent the endwall 20. The two apertures 22, 24 thus extend over substantially the entire length of the container 10. Turning now to the merchandise cards 12, each card includes a substrate 26 having a body portion 28 and a folded end portion 30. An article of merchandise .(not shown) is secured to the body portion 28 by means of the transparent blister 32 which overlies the article and which is adhesively bonded to the substrate. The end portions 30 are provided with apertures 34 by which the merchandise cards may be hung on hooks or other suitable means so as to suspend them for display purposes. Price or other indicia in the form oflabels 36 are adhesively affixed to end portions 30 of the merchandise cards 12 so that they may be viewed through the apertures 22, 24.

As best seen in FIG. 2, the multiplicity of merchandise cards 12 are stacked in the interior of the container 10 with the blisters 32 and articles of merchandise (not shown) spaced from each other by the body portions 28 of adjacent cards. The end portions 30 are folded with respect to the body portions 28 of the several cards 12 so that they extend away from the blister 32 and article of merchandise supported on the substrate 26 and parallel to and along one of the sidewalls 14, 16 of the container 10. Half of the merchandise cards 12 are disposed so that their blisters 32 are oriented in the direction of the endwall 20 and the other half are placed in the container 10 so that their blisters 32 are oriented toward the endwall 18.

It can be seen that, in this embodiment the end portions 30 of each substrate 26 is of a width greater than the thickness or width of the blister 32 and thickness of the substrate body portion 28 so that it overlaps the adjacent merchandise card 12, thus providing a support for the folded end portion and a high degree of visibility. In this particular embodiment, the folded end portion is approximately two and one half times the total thickness of blister 32 and substrate body portion 28 to produce a significant overlapping of three merchandise cards 12.

In the method of pricing or applying other indicia, the merchandise cards 12 are first folded to cause the face of the end portion 30 to extend away from the article of merchandise (not shown) and blister 32 so that it will thereby be exposed for viewing through an aperture 22, 24 container. The folded merchandise cards l2 are then inserted into the container 10 in the fashion heretofore described so as to expose the header or end portions 30. The pricing or other necessary information can be applied to the end portions 30 either by means of a label adhesively affixed thereto or by imprinting with a rubber stamp or the like. Obviously the technique of the present invention also enables the preaffixation of pricing or other indicia before introduc tion of the merchandise cards into the container so as to permit'their viewing for inventory or other purposes.

Turning now to the embodiments of FIGS. 36, this package again comprises a container generally designated by the numeral and a multiplicity of merchandise cards disposed therein generally designated by the numeral 112. The paperboard container 110 has a pair of parallel sidewalls 114, 116 extending between the endwalls 118, 120 and both'having elongated tear strips 119 adjacent the lower margin thereof defined by score or weakening lines 121. In this embodiment, the aperture 122, 124 which are formed by removal of the tear strips 119 are aligned adjacent the lower margin and extend across the full width of the sidewalls 114, 1 16.

As best seen in FIG. 5, the merchandise cards 112 have a substrate 126 with a main or body portion 128 and a longitudinally folded side portion 130 which is reversely folded so as to extend generally parallel to the plane of the body portion 128. The article of merchandise (not shown) is secured to the body portion 128 by the transparent blister 132 and the body portion is provided with an aperture 134 for hanging upon a display.

As seen in FIG. 4, the merchandise cards 112 are inserted into the container 110 so that the folded portions 130 of one-half are disposed adjacent the sidewall 113 and the folded portions 130 of the other half are disposed adjacent the sidewall 116. Moreover the blisters or products 132 are nested together by having half the cards 112 reversed as is clearly illustrated in FIG. 4.

To effect pricing, the tear strips 119 are opened and the pricing labels 136 are affixed to the cards I12. lfso desired the tear strips 119 need not be completely removed and they may then be placed back into position to close the apertures 122, 124, by reason of the frictional engagement of the paperboard components.

The present invention is adapted to various types of containers for shipping and storing the carded items including conventional paperboard, paper-board-foil laminates, synthetic plastic and the like. The apertures in the parallel sidewalls of the container will be ori ented in accordance with the desired location for placement of the pricing or other indicia upon the header portions of the cards. Conventionally, such indicia is applied to one side of the portion and therefore it will be most common to orient the apertures along one of the longitudinal margins of the sidewalls in one arrangement and along a bottom or top wall in another embodiment. However, the orientation and location will depend upon the type of merchandise cards to be received therein. When the apertures extend longitudinally, from the standpoint of strength of the container it is preferable to orient the aperture adjacent the longitudinal margin which abuts against a fixed wall of the container, e.g., the bottom wall where the top wall comprises an opening flap. The length of the apertures may vary depending upon the length of apertures required to display the appropriate portions of the folded portions of the carded merchandise. The width of the apertures, of course, will depend upon the amount of the folded portion required to be exposed.

Various types of merchandise cards may be employed depending upon the type of merchandise to be stored therein. Generally, such merchandise will employ substrates of paperboard, paperboard/metal foil laminates and paperboard/synthetic plastic film laminates. It is essential to the present invention that the substrate be one which can be folded so that the folded portion may be disposed in a parallel orientation relative to the sidewall. Conveniently this is done by pro viding a crease, fold, or score line in the substrate which will facilitate the folding operation. As is con ventional, the merchandise card is desirably provided with an aperture or a punchout portion to provide an aperture for hanging the card upon wire rods or the like.

The means employed for securing the articles of merchandise to the substrate may vary in accordance with conventional practice. Skin packaging, blister packaging, stapling, tying, and various other techniques are all conveniently employed.

As has been indicated previously, in one embodiment the header portion of the cards which is folded so as to extend at an angle to the body portion may overlap at least one adjacent merchandise card, thus increasing stability in the assembly within the container. In practice there may be employed a length for the header portion which is greater than the thickness ofthe substrate itself together with the thickness of the article of merchandise and affixing means. Most desirably this length of the header portion is at least twice the combined thickness so as to overlap two, and preferably, three cards. A convenient length has been found to be two three times the combined thickness.

ln assembling the package, the individual merchandise cards are folded so as to properly orient the folded portions relative to the body portions thereof, and the fold line may be pre-broken or broken on automatic packaging equipment. The folded cards are then insertcd into the container in the desired orientation,

some of the cards being disposed so that their articles of merchandise face one wall and other articles of merchandise being disposed so as to face the opposite wall. Although it is possible to alternate the merchandise cards with respect to their orientation relative to the walls, the more convenient practice has been found'to be that of orienting a first group of merchandise cards in one direction, generally comprising approximately one half the total cards to be stored; the remaining cards are then oriented in the opposite direction. Of course the groups are inserted into the container so that their folded portions are exposed through the apertures in the sidewalls.

The types of indicia utilized upon the folded portions may vary as has been indicated hereinbefore. Adhesive labels comprise a technique widely employed for pricing of such merchandise and may be readily inserted upon the folded portionsof the cards through the apertures in the sidewalls.Alternatively, suitable indicia may be applied to the folded portions by rubber stamps, by pencil or marking pen or by other suitable means. It will be appreciated that the packages of the present invention may also be used to store articles of merchandise upon which the desired information has been pre-printed so as to facilitate inventory or other business operations.

Thus, it can be seen from the foregoing detailed specification and accompanying drawing that the novel package of the present invention conveniently displays the price or other indicia of carded merchandise stored therein without requiring any form of disassembly of the container. Pricing or other identifying indicia may be applied readily through viewing; apertures directly to the folded portions of the carded merchandise, and the resultant packages thus permit simplification of business procedures.

Having thus described the invention, 1 claim:

1. A package for displaying the price of carded merchandise therein comprising:

A. a container having a pair of spaced parallel sidewalls each with an elongated aperture therein; and

B. a multiplicity of merchandise cards in said container disposed in stacked relationship between said pair of spaced sidewalls, each of said merchandise cards including a substrate having a body por: tion extending in space relationship to said pair of sidewalls and a folded portion extending at an angle to said body portion and parallel to said sidewalls, said cards also including an article of merchandise mounted on said body portion of said substrate and means mounting said-article on said sub strate, the folded portions of the substrates of some of said cards extending adjacent and being exposed through the aperture of one of said pair of sidewalls and the folded portions of the substrates of other cards extending adjacent and being exposed through the aperture of the other of said sidewalls, whereby said folded portions of the substrates of said multiplicity of cards are exposed through said apertures for affixation thereto of indicia.

2. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein the elongated aperture of one of said pair of parallel sidewalls is offset to one side of the length of the container and the elongated aperture in the other of said parallel sidewalls is offset to the other side of the length of the container, whereby said apertures together traverse substantially the entire length of the container.

3. The package in accordance with claim 2 wherein said apertures overlap the center portion of the length of said container.

4. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein said apertures are adjacent one longitudinal margin of said sidewall.

5. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein said means mounting said articles on said substrate is synthetic plastic sheet material overlying said article and bonded to said body portion of said substrate about said article.

6. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein said folded portions of said substrates of said cards are folded end portions and extend in the direction away from the article supported on the body portion thereof and said body portions of said substrates of said cards extend perpendicularly to said pair of sidewalls.

7. The package in accordance with claim 6 wherein said end portions of said substrates are of greater width than the total thickness of the article and of the'body portion of the substrates so as to overlap adjacent cards.

8. The package in accordance with claim 7 wherein I said end portions of said substrates are of a width at least twice the dimension of the total thickness of the aritcle and of the body portion of the substrate.

9. The package in accordance with claim 6 wherein some of the merchandise cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing one endwall of the container and the other cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing the other endwall of the container.

10. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein the elongated aperture of one of said pair of parallel sidewalls is offset to one side of the length of the container and the elongated aperture in the other of said parallel sidewalls is offset to the other side of the length of the container, whereby said apertures together traverse substantially the entire length of the container,

and wherein said folded portions of said substrates of said cards are folded end portions and extend in the direction away from the article supported on the body portion thereof and said body portions of said substrates of said cards extend perpendicularly to said pair of sidewalls, said end portions of said substrates being of greater width than the total thickness of the article and of the bodyportion ofthe substrate so as to overlap adjacent cards.

11. The package in accordance with claim 10 wherein some of the merchandise cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing one endwall of the container and the other cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing the other endwall of the container, the cards facing an endwall of the container having their end portions exposed through the aperture offset towards the other endwall of the container.

12. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein said elongated apertures are disposed adjacent one margin of said sidewalls and extend in substantially parallel aligned relationship.

13. The package in accordance with claim 12 wherein said apertures are adjacent one transverse margin of said sidewalls.

14. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein said folded portion of said substrates of said cards are reversely folded side portions and extend parallel to the body portion thereof.

15. The package inv accordance with claim 14 wherein some of the merchandise cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing one sidewall of the container and the other cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing the other sidewall of the container, the reverselyv folded side portions being disposed outwardly towards the adjacent sidewall and exposed through the 

1. A package for displaying the price of carded merchandise therein comprising: A. a container having a pair of spaced parallel sidewalls each with an elongated aperture therein; and B. a multiplicity of merchandise cards in said container disposed in stacked relationship between said pair of spaced sidewalls, each of said merchandise cards including a substrate having a body portion extending in space relationship to said pair of sidewalls and a folded portion extending at an angle to said body portion and parallel to said sidewalls, said cards also including an article of merchandise mounted on said body portion of said substrate and means mounting said article on said substrate, the folded portions of the substrates of some of said cards extending adjacent and being exposed through the aperture of one of said pair of sidewalls and the folded portions of the substrates of other cards extending adjacent and being exposed through the aperture of the other of said sidewalls, whereby said folded portions of the substrates of said multiplicity of cards are exposed through said apertures for affixation thereto of indicia.
 2. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein the elongated aperture of one of said pair of parallel sidewalls is offset to one side of the length of the container and the elongated aperture in the other of said parallel sidewalls is offset to the other side of the length of the container, whereby said apertures together traverse substantially the entire length of the container.
 3. The package in accordance with claim 2 wherein said apertures overlap the center portion of the length of said container.
 4. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein said apertures are adjacent one longitudinal margin of said sidewall.
 5. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein said means mounting said articles on said substrate is synthetic plastic sheet material overlying said article and bonded to said body portion of said substrate about said article.
 6. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein said folded portions of said substrates of said cards are folded end portions and extend in the direction away from the article supported on the body portion thereof and said body portions of said substrates of said cards extend perpendicularly to said pair of sidewalls.
 7. The package in accordance with claim 6 wherein said end portions of said substrates are of greater width than the total thickness of the article and of the body portion of the substrates so as to overlap adjacent cards.
 8. The package in accordance with claim 7 wherein said end portions of said substrates are of a width at least twice the dimension of the total thickness of the aritcle and of the body portion of the substrate.
 9. The package in accordance with claim 6 wherein some of the merchandise cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing one endwall of the container and the other cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing the other endwall of the container.
 10. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein the elongated aperture of one of said pair of parallel sidewalls is offset to one side of the length of the container and the elongated aperture in the other of said parallel sidewalls is oFfset to the other side of the length of the container, whereby said apertures together traverse substantially the entire length of the container, and wherein said folded portions of said substrates of said cards are folded end portions and extend in the direction away from the article supported on the body portion thereof and said body portions of said substrates of said cards extend perpendicularly to said pair of sidewalls, said end portions of said substrates being of greater width than the total thickness of the article and of the body portion of the substrate so as to overlap adjacent cards.
 11. The package in accordance with claim 10 wherein some of the merchandise cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing one endwall of the container and the other cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing the other endwall of the container, the cards facing an endwall of the container having their end portions exposed through the aperture offset towards the other endwall of the container.
 12. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein said elongated apertures are disposed adjacent one margin of said sidewalls and extend in substantially parallel aligned relationship.
 13. The package in accordance with claim 12 wherein said apertures are adjacent one transverse margin of said sidewalls.
 14. The package in accordance with claim 1 wherein said folded portion of said substrates of said cards are reversely folded side portions and extend parallel to the body portion thereof.
 15. The package in accordance with claim 14 wherein some of the merchandise cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing one sidewall of the container and the other cards are disposed with the articles thereof facing the other sidewall of the container, the reversely folded side portions being disposed outwardly towards the adjacent sidewall and exposed through the aperture therein. 